SPRA Fly Fishing Section – 2019 Newsletter SPRA FFS 2019 National Loch Championship The 53rd National Loch Championship took place on Thursday 16th May at the Lake of Menteith, Aberfoyle. This was also the qualifier for the PSUK National Championship which will take place in June 2020 hosted by Police Scotland at the Lake of Menteith and the PSUK 5 Nations Championship that will be fished in September 2020 at Llyn Brenig, Wales. The event was fished on a fully catch and release basis with the competitors being required to note the times of their first two fish. A total of 275 fish were caught and released, giving a rod average on the day of 5.5. The team event was won by East A, which consisted of Jimmy McBride, Jim Walker, Brian Clifton and Keith Anderson with a total catch of 35 fish. In second place with 28 fish were East C, consisting of Roddy McIntyre, Ronnie Turnbull, Rae Harrison and Stewart Marshall. Both teams will represent Police Scotland at the PSUK National Championship at the Lake of Menteith in June 2020. The third placed team was North A who also recorded 28 fish but were beaten on the time of their first fish landed. The Individual Scottish Champion for 2019 was Jimmy McBride with an outstanding catch of 17 fish. The runner up was Kenny Hall with a total catch of 16 fish with 3rd place going to David Mateer with 15 fish. Jimmy McBride and Kenny Hall will represent Police Scotland as individuals at the PSUK National at the Lake of Menteith in June 2020. The top 15 anglers on the day that will go forward to represent Police Scotland at the PSUK 5 Nations Championship at Llyn Brenig in September 2020 are:-

Jimmy McBride (Captain) Malcolm Sclater Kenny Hall (Vice Captain) Tom Lessels David Mateer Stewart Marshall Alan Hill Roddy McIntyre Jamie Picken Kenny Miller Ronnie Turnbull Alan Dickson Alan Gilbert Davie Blackwood (Reserve) Bob McLean

Following the event the presentation dinner was held at The Golden Lion Hotel, Stirling where Assistant Chief Constable Steve Johnson presented the prizes to the winners. In addition and to commemorate many years of loyal service to the section Frank Gillespie was presented with a special achievement award.

The 2019 competitors pose for a picture prior to the boats being launched.

The Top Table as ACC Johnson addresses the Section.

National Secretary Jamie Picken announces the results.

East Region President Ronnie Turnbull speaking on the outstanding service to the Section by Frank Gillespie.

Jimmy Walker receives the Team Championship Trophy from ACC Johnson.

Frank Gillespie receiving his Special Achievement Award from ACC Johnson.

PSUK National Loch Championship The PSUK National Championship was fished at Bewl Water on 6th June. Our team travelled south to Kent aware that recent fishery reports hadn’t been good and the weather forecast wasn’t looking promising either! That said the boys were in good spirits on the long journey south and were determined to put up a good show. We were represented in the Individual Championship by Harris Campbell and Brian Clifton and in the Team Event by Harris Campbell, Brian Clifton, David Robertson and Calum Fraser (who deputised for Steve Mannion who sadly took unwell at the event). The Team event was won by North Wales (7 fish for 18lbs, 13 ozs), Cheshire (7 fish for 18lbs 4 ozs) were second and East Mids/Leicestershire (6 fish for 14lbs 1 oz) were third with our Scottish team finishing a very creditable fourth with 5 fish for 11lbs 15 ozs. The Individual title was won by Mark Edgeson Wright from Kent with 3 fish for 8lbs 13 oz, second place went to Colin Jones of North Wales with 2 fish for 6lbs 13ozs and our very own Brian Clifton was third with 2 fish for 6lbs 13 ozs. PSUK Home International River Championship The English Police Fly Fishing Association hosted this event on the River Tees, County Durham, on 25th and 26th June. This year our section was represented by Scotland A Team; James Hek, Alan Hill, John Greep & Kevin Gilmour and Scotland B Team; John Curry, Stevie O’Rourke, Malcolm Miller & George Kirk. Congratulations go to our Scotland A Team who for the seventh consecutive year convincingly retained their title with 96 place points, England A finished in second place with 133 place points and Wales were third with 143 place points. Scotland B also put up a creditable performance coming fourth with 157 place points.

Alan, James, John and Kevin are pictured left receiving their gold medals from famous County Durham fly fisher, author and fly tier Harry Vallack. Special mention should be given to James Hek who retained the individual title with Alan Hill coming second and John Greep coming third! A fantastic achievement again from the rivers team with three of our A Team taking the top 3 individual places! James is pictured left receiving the award for top individual angler. Alan Hill is pictured below right receiving the award for catching the biggest grayling of the event, a fantastic fish measuring 350mm.

SPRA FFS Inter-Cities Match The Inter-Cities Match was fished on Friday 2nd August at Frandy Fishery. The event was again fished on a catch and release basis with 24 anglers making up 6 teams of 4; three from the East, two from the West and one from the North. The match was fished in challenging conditions with bright skies and very little wind making things tricky, but a very creditable 43 fish were landed. The match ended a closely contested affair with both the East A and West A Teams landing 12 fish, but with East A recording the earliest caught fish they took first prize. Commiserations to the West A Team; Jamie Picken, Alan Gilbert, Mark Da Prato and Matt Connolly. Congratulation to the East A Team (pictured right with the trophy); Brian Clifton, Malcolm Miller, Keith Anderson and Jimmy Walker. PSUK 5 Nations Loch Championship The English Police Fly Fishing Association hosted the PSUK 5 Nations Championship at Rutland Water on 4th

September. The Scotland team (pictured below) were represented at the event by:-

1. Alan Hill (Captain) 9. Brian Clifton 2. Roddy McIntyre (Vice Captain) 10. Stewart Marshall 3. Kenny Hall 11. Jamie Picken 4. David Mateer 12. Ronnie Turnbull 5. Harris Campbell 13. Jim Walker 6. Kenny Miller 14. Steve Mannion 7. Alan Gilbert 15. Alex Knox 8. Keith Anderson

This match was also fished in challenging conditions, this time due to high winds out of the west, but the PSNI team adapted best on the day and were resounding winners with 23 fish for 60lbs 15ozs. Wales were second with 16 fish for 44lbs 4ozs, the Guards had 15 fish for 34lbs 1oz, England had 13 fish for 30lbs 2ozs and although Scotland also had 13 fish we sadly took the wooden spoon on the weight of fish killed (29lbs 7 ozs). Pictured below receiving their prizes from England’s Craig Barr are Alan Gilbert who was the top Scottish rod on the day with 3 fish for 5lbs 14ozs and our team captain Alan Hill receiving the dreaded wooden spoon!

SPRA FFS National River Championship Our National River Championship was fished on the River Clyde on Sunday 29th September, James Hek (pictured right with his first fish of the day) landed 11 fish in total and retained the championship, Alan Hill was second with 8 fish and Bob Robertson was third. The top 8 rods from this year’s championship will represent the Section at the PSUK National River Championships on the River Dee, Llangollen, Wales in June 2020.

SPRA FFS v North England Police Match This match was fished at the Lake of Menteith on Thursday 24th October and the field this year included 25 anglers from each side of the border. The match as always was fished in good spirits with Scotland coming out well on top landing 117 fish compared to England’s 57. PSUK FFS Secretary Calum Fraser is pictured below presenting prizes to our Scottish regional captains Jimmy Walker, David Mateer and Stewart Marshall.

PSUK Fly Fishing Section v United Kingdom Armed Forces – Autumn Match This match was hosted at the Lake of Menteith on Friday 1st November, the PSUK team this year included the top 4 available SPRA FFS rods taken from our 2019 Scottish Championship (Jimmy McBride, David Mateer, Alan Hill and Jamie Picken) along with the top 2 rods from the English, Welsh and PSNI Championships along with 4 rods from the PSUK British team. As usual the UK Armed Forces team were made up of 14 anglers from the Army (Soldier Palmers), RAF (Fish Hawkes) and Royal Navy. The match was fished in excellent conditions (bearing in mind it was November 1st) and for the first time since the inception of the Spring & Autumn UK Armed Forces matches the Police team ran out winners, landing 116 fish for 260lbs 13 ozs to the UK Armed Forces 105 fish for 241lbs 14ozs. Of note the 4 Scottish rods finished within the top 6 Police rods and within the top 9 rods overall and the Police side had the top 3 individuals, the heaviest fish and won the officials competition. A fantastic achievement from all involved!

Special mention to David Mateer who was second overall with a bag weight of 27lbs 13ozs and had the biggest fish of the day, a fantastic specimen of 5lbs 13ozs. David is pictured above left receiving his trophy from Event Organiser, David Eames of the RAF. Calum Fraser won the Officials Competition with an excellent catch of 10 fish for 20lbs 4ozs and is pictured above right receiving his prizes from David Eames.

Regional Loch Style Champions Once again our three loch style Club Championships were keenly contested affairs with anglers competing over the season in the East (10 outings), in the West (10 outings) and in the North (6 outings). Congratulations to our three 2019 Regional Champions:- North Champion - David Mateer (pictured right with an impressive brace taken at the Lake of Menteith during the recent PSUK v UK Armed Forces Autumn match) East Champion - Stewart Marshall (pictured below left receiving his award from retired DCC Tom Wood). West Champion - Jamie Picken (pictured below right receiving the trophy from West Secretary Charlie Rankin)

PSUK British Police Team Representation Congratulations to Alan Gilbert who again represented the PSUK British Police Team in the Tri-match on 30th April and Services Match on 4th June, both at Grafham Water. Alan is pictured below left with his (slightly taller) boat partner Mark Kane from the Renegades receiving their prize from PSUK FFS Secretary Calum Fraser for the best boat (bag weight) during the Tri-Match. Alan reached his 12 fish limit by 1430hrs closely followed by Mark and with time bonuses they comfortably won the best bag weight of the day. The Section will continue to be represented at this level next season as Brian Clifton, due to his achievements at the PSUK National at Bewl and PSUK 5 Nations at Rutland, has qualified for the 2020 team. Brian is pictured below right receiving his British Team cap after the PSUK 5 Nations match at Rutland. Well done Brian on a fantastic achievement!

SANACC Events National (Individual) – Out of our 7 entrants this year (West – Jamie Picken, Colin Campbell and Steve Mannion / East – Jimmy Walker, Brian Clifton and Malcolm Miller / North -David Mateer) only David Mateer qualified through to the National Final at the Lake of Menteith on 14th September. Commiserations to David who landed 12 fish on the day and only narrowly missed out on National selection. Scottish Clubs (Team) – For the first time in recent years none of our four teams entered reached the final of this event. Champion of Champions – This event was fished at the Lake of Menteith on 4th October. Due their sterling performance in the Scottish Club heats Kenny Miller, Matt Connolly and Brian Clifton all qualified for this match, sadly none of the guys finished in the prizes but they should all be commended on their efforts.